


One-Day Syndrome

by Kveolucha



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Fanfiction, Happy Ending, I Don't Even Know, I can't remember the name of that book, M/M, Voltron, Voltron au, hinted/implied reincarnation, inspired by a book I started reading and got bored of, it's okay though they come back, klance, one-day syndrome, people die, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 07:09:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17862704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kveolucha/pseuds/Kveolucha
Summary: "It's a weird story, huh..."





	1. 1: A Bizarre Tale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [namjintellect (starlitsequins)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlitsequins/gifts).



1: A Bizarre Tale

 

“It’s a weird story, huh…”

“Just start already, dude.”

“Yeah, you dragged me out to skip a maths exam for this.”

“Okay, Okay! From the beginning, let’s go!

 

\--

 

Something was wrong. 

Well, not particularly  _ wrong,  _ but unusual nonetheless. 

_ One-day,  _ they called it,  _ ODD. One-Day Disease. ODS. One-Day Syndrome.  _ Many such names were thrown around. Everyone knew of it, some way or another, along with the unspoken rules and deductions that had been made and posted online or in newspapers or magazines. And the confusion, the confusion of the doctors and biologists who couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on. But of course, the ‘thing’ they called one-day was something of a mystery. 

There were 4 basic facts:

 

  1. It worked like so; one person would wake up, no memory of anything about themselves; no names, no hobbies, no knowledge of address or previous studies. Whoever or _whatever_ had taken the place of that person would attempt to blend in, it was clear they’d try, yet still painstakingly obvious that it was one-day. The next day, the person would wake up completely normal, memory of everything except the previous day. 
  2. One-day seemed to age like a normal person. At first, it was unnoticeable, for babies and toddlers act more or less in the same unpredictable manners. However with age it became rather obvious to researchers that for a year one-day would target seven-year-olds, yet on the twenty fourth of October it would have gone up to eight-year-olds. It was concluded that one-day was born on the twenty third of October. This information was then used in attempt to discover one-day’s true identity, however there were too many possible identities, and one-day was too unpredictable. 
  3. Nobody would ever experience one-day twice. Sometimes one-day would leave the country for a day, a week, a month, but it always came back. It was reported that foreign victims spoke English for a day, which lead to conclusions that one-day was originally either English or American, or had at least grown up there for most of their lives. 
  4. Almost everyone knew about one-day. It was a constant subject online or in conversation. However, one-day didn’t seem aware of the alias “one-day” _or_ the fact that people knew of it. Nobody bothered to tell one-day. They feared the consequences. 



 

Lance Mcclain had gone to a party the night before. Hunk, his roommate, had berated him for coming home so late, and with _a girl_. Lance had protested that he was _an adult, nearly 18_ to which Hunk had said _exactly, still 17_ , and after a short argument in which neither side was really serious, Lance had slept with Nyma. Not **_slept_** **_together_** _slept together,_ just a simple rest in which both parties closed their eyes and laid in bed until the morning came. Nyma must have awoken before Lance, for his bed was empty upon his own awakening. 

 

She was in the kitchen, further inspection revealed, working the coffee machine. Lance was greeted with a slightly awkward “h-hey uh… babe…” from the older girl. Lance blinked. Nyma had shown no intention of any sort of relationship, they hadn’t even kissed last night. 

“Ah, did I say something wrong? I must have drunk too much last night…”  _ okay, this is definitely a lie,  _ Lance deduced. Nyma couldn’t have been more than a little tipsy, for she’d spent more time scorning alcohol than drinking it. 

“We aren’t a couple.” Lance stated. Nyma looked royally embarrassed at that.

“Oh.”

“Nyma’s not an alcoholic either, one-day.”

_ It was the only possible conclusion, after all. Nyma isn’t acting like herself.  _

Indeed, Lance remembered Nyma being sarcastic and overly confident, never hesitating to say something honest, even if it was a rude statement. The Nyma that currently stood before him was unsure, slightly nervous, definitely awkward. 

“One… what?”

“One-day? You?”

“I’m Nyma.”

“Nyma who?”

“Nyma… uhh… Smith.”

“Wait uh, actually, I don’t know Nyma’s full name either.”

“Oh.”

“But you’re definitely not Nyma! I have you now, one-day!” Lance grinned, triumphant. Nyma, or, one-day, simply stared. 

“Lance, stop shouting, it’s only 6am, I was trying to-“

“HUNK! Hunk! It’s one-day, look!”

“I still don’t know what one-day is…”

_ God, it was too early for this.  _

“Lance, take Nyma home so she can get a day off sick or something. Don’t stand there trying to converse.”

“But Huuuuuunk! It’s one-day! This is literally a once in a lifetime chance!”

“I’m still here…”

Hunk sighed. 

“I’m going back to sleep.”

 

And with that, Hunk proceeded back to the comfort of his bed and light slumber. Lance turned towards Nyma, grinning.

“The O.D.S is a really weird thing where for a day someone will act out of character, and whoever takes their place that day is called one-day.”

Nyma glared at Lance with a “My name’s not one-day,” spoken with indignant tones. “But if you’re so worked up about it, no, I’m not Nyma, no, I don’t know what my actual name is or who I was born as, or anything else.”

Lance’s face fell slightly. He hadn’t considered this; that one-day, like most humans, couldn’t remember the exact moment they were born. He assumed he’d just always thought of one-day as a magical being with perfect memory. However, that didn’t seem to be the case. How was he meant to befriend someone who didn’t even have a name? In summary, Lance fucked up,  _ ever so slightly. _

“So what do I call you, then?”

“Well, today I’m Nyma.”

The coffee machine beeped. Grimacing as Nyma began downing a cup of black coffee, Lance made another stab at conversation.

“Do you know anything about Nyma?”

“No. I can’t open her phone, it’s got a password.”

“Finger-scanning, duh.”

Still sipping at the bitter beverage, Nyma began pressing each of her fingers against the home button of her phone. The middle finger of her right hand unlocked the device;  _ classic Nyma, huh.  _

“Oh. It worked.”

“Of course it worked! I’m a genius!”

Lance slid over to Nyma, leaning over the elder’s shoulder to see what secrets the small device concealed.

“I’ll call her parents or something…” One-day mumbled, long-nailed fingers clicking against the screen as she scrolled through Nyma’s contacts.

 

Lance froze.  _ Was that it then?  _ Was one-day just going to leave, just like that? It was almost sad, the whole situation; if one-day left now, they’d likely never meet again, a story unresolved. One-day  _ intrigued  _ Lance, especially since they’d come face-to-face. No, this situation was too good to give up. 

“Wait!”

Purple eyes fell upon him at the sound of his voice.  _ Damn, had he sounded too desperate? _

“I uhh… uuuuuhhh…”  _ Paper, you dimwit. Preferably a pen too. At least a pen. Contact details, give her them! Yours, as well, and dammit, speak english!  _

“Doesn’t it get lonely?”

_ Great going, Mcclain, you had one job. _

Nyma raised one eyebrow, obviously unimpressed with the show. Lance would be too, if he were honest.

“Y’know… Being someone new every day… Doesn’t it get lonely, never making any real friends? Isn’t it hard to forget all the people you’ve met?”

His words were met with a “ _ tch. _ ”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“Well fuck you, Watson,”

_ You know what? This was a bad idea. Guess one-day’s just an asshole.  _

“Just go call Nyma’s parents then, if you don’t want my friendship.” The younger of the pair huffed loudly.

“You were offering  _ friendship? _ ”

“Yeah! I thought maybe you’d be sad, ‘cus you never had a chance to make a friend!”

“Well, sorry I never had to make one!”

“Wait, really? What kind of pathetic life have you lived?”

“Many! Many different fucking lives, so  _ sorry  _ if I’m not educated enough! I’ve missed so much being like this, d’you think I  _ enjoy this? _ I-”

Nyma was breaking down, voice cracking, body losing the tension that her anger had previously fuelled. And Lance was there, standing like a twat whilst a girl cried in his, well,  _ Hunk’s, he never really used it,  _ kitchen.

“Want a hug, buddy?”

In hindsight, it wasn’t a very effective form of comforting someone. But alas, Lance was an awkward (almost) adult, and didn’t really know what to do when a magical being was having an existential crisis in his house at 6:15 on a sunday morning. Nevertheless, Nyma stood up and awkwardly put her arms around him. It occurred to Lance that one-day had probably never had a chance to talk about themselves or their feelings. And so, with an awkward pat on Nyma’s back, he encouraged them to keep going.

 

“What’s it like to be loved by someone, to have a family or a routine? What’s it like to have a sense of organisation in your life? To be able to trust in friends and have fun with them? How do you feel like you’re doing something right when all they assure is the person you appear to be? What the  _ fuck  _ am I meant to keep doing with my life, keep existing as nobody to myself, but everyone to others?”

_ Silence. _

“There was a kid… I was his older brother… And… And his mother beat him. He was crying and screaming and it was horrible, he was in so much pain and there was blood and i wanted to do something, but I didn’t know what I could do! I didn’t know where we lived of the names of that kid and his mother, and I couldn’t get access to a phone until the next day. But I had no evidence, even if I called the police they couldn’t have done anything. My whole life I haven’t been able to help other people, and I may not remember everyone, but people like that kid will stick, because I couldn’t do shit.”

_ What do you say in this sort of situation? _

Lance opted for silence once again. And so they stood, in an awkward embrace, one only hoping that his actions were enough to comfort the other. 

“Hey, I can give you my number? If you memorize it, you can call me every day and then you won’t be lonely, yeah? If we’re close enough, I’ll even meet up with you.”

Lance’s offer was met with a few sniffs, signifying that Nyma was reluctant to admit to the tears, despite the fact that Lance could quite obviously feel them soaking through his pyjama shirt. 

“It’s not much, but-”

“It’s fine. I’ll take your number… please.”

“I’m gonna need you to let go of me for that, ‘kay.”

Reluctantly, Nyma stepped away, the telltale red of embarrassment upon her cheeks. After grabbing a pen and writing his phone number upon Nyma’s arm, he bid her a goodbye. Nyma left with the promise that she’d remember the number, ‘for Lance’s sake.’

 

\--

 

“Stop staring at your phone like it’s going to explode,” Hunk commented, biting into a sandwich. It was midday already, and no sign of One-day. Pidge elbowed the taller male. 

“Shhhhhh! Maybe he’s actually got a girlfriend for once!” 

Lance laughed feebly at the joke. One-day had  _ promised _ ! They couldn’t  _ break a promise! _ That was against the rules! Pidge and Hunk began teasing him again; Lance simply picked up his phone and began tapping the screen absentmindedly. 

“He does know that it’s off, right?”

“Maybe his girlfriend’s imaginary.”

“Shut UP Pidge! I don’t have a girlfriend, you’re just making me more depressed about it!” Lance exclaimed, stressed.  _ What if something was wrong? What if they  _ **_died?!_ ** _ Where the heck was One-day?! _

“Speak of the devil and they doth appear,” Hunk nudged his friend, “Your friend’s calling, Lance.”

The latter’s eyes lit up along with his phone screen, and there was barely a moment of hesitation before he’d picked up. 

“Hello? Number one full-time gorgeous human being here, Lance Mcclain at your service~”

_ “Yeah, with that obnoxious voice, I’ve definitely found you.”  _

The first thing that hit Lance was that on the other end was a  _ male’s voice _ , and the second was  _ damn this dude’s voice is HOT- _

He opted for a, “What took you so long?”, ignoring Pidge teasing him for his red face, because  _ why can’t I think another dude’s voice is hot, huh _ , he continued. 

“Who are you today?”

_ “The certificate on the bedroom wall is awarded to a Takashi Shirogane, and his boyfriend called him Shiro… You called me One-day yesterday.” _

“Nice. So what took you so long, huh?”

_ “Your handwriting is terrible. I couldn’t decipher any fours or nines, and twos and sevens, and your threes kinda looked like really badly written ones.” _

Slightly (very) offended, Lance pouted  

“Rude! My handwriting isn’t  _ that bad! _ ”

Pidge snorted. Hunk shrugged. 

“I was worried, you know! I was waiting for your call!”

_ Pause.  _

_ “You were worried about me?” _

Either Lance was imagining it, or One-day was flustered. 

“Y-yeah? Why wouldn’t I be? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

_ “Yeah, I guess so.” _

\--

A certain Lance Mcclain was, to put it simply,  _ fucked _ .

It’d been four years since he’d met one day, and at the ripe old age of 21, after much internal conflict on the matter, come to the conclusion that he was in love with One-day. And, funnily enough, falling in love with someone who woke up as a different person every day wasn’t exactly the smartest idea. And so, Lance had reached the second conclusion; he was  _ fucked.  _

 

The first step was confession, at least, if he wanted to get anywhere romantically. There was always step one 2.0, denial of any romantic attraction. 

And now, as Lance stood before a rather pretty girl named Allura, he was  _ definitely  _ considering step one 2.0.

“What do you want, Lance, spit it out.”  _ It was kind of a shame One-day’s personality wasn’t the most pleasant. Allura would have looked better smiling, and holding herself with grace. _

“Stop crossing your arms and slouching like that, dude, you look like you’ve been possessed with the ghost of a 1900’s mafia leader.”

Lance received a ‘ _ tch. _ ’ for his efforts.

“Is that all? You tell me we have to meet, make a big deal about what you want  to say, and it’s-”

“I’m in love with you.”

Allura froze mid-sentence. It was rather comical, actually, and despite the serious intent behind his words, he couldn’t help but let out a snort at her face. This action was greeted with Allura’s fist against his arm.

“Don’t joke about stuff like that!” Allura almost whined, as if she were disappointed. 

“I wasn’t! You were staring like a goldfish, like,” Lance mimicked Allura’s shocked face, before beginning to giggle, “I couldn’t help it!”

“Well then, I can’t help  _ this, _ ” and then  _ oh, this was a kiss. Nice. I think Allura’s wearing strawberry flavoured lip gloss, I wonder what would happen if I licked it- _

The moment didn’t last long, with Allura pulling away, embarrassed.

“Ooooooooh, couldn’t resist the undeniable charm of-”

“Of Lance Mcclain, yeah, yeah.”

“Does this make me your,” Lance wiggled his eyebrows, “BoOoooooOooOOOOoooooOoooOoyfriend?”

“Stop doing that before this relationship ends within the first minute of it happening.”

“Awe, you’re just jealous of my eyebrows. They’re sexy, aren’t they? You know, Pidge told me that girls  _ draw on  _ their eyebrows, it’s so  _ wild- _ ”

_ “Lance.” _

 

\--

 

Ah, Family dinners. Screaming children. Disapproving parents. Dodgy cousins you never knew existed.

Lance had reached his forties, much to Hunk’s mix of joy and confusion, and had gained a reputation as a ‘player’.

“Honestly, Lance,” his mother cooed over their meal, the chaos going on at the kid’s table pointedly ignored, “As much as you might not like it, you’re getting old. I know you’re always in the company of some male or female, but it’s time you consider settling down, starting a family. Even Veronica and Acxa have adopted a wonderful young man and some lovely ladies.”

“He’s getting big, six years old now, and the girls are two soon!” The sibling in question piped up, winking at Lance.

“I get it Veronica, you’re a big lesbian with eight kids and six cats.”

“We have three kids and two cats, Lance.”

“Yeah, for now.”

Acxa had to restrain Veronica from throwing her dessert spoon at her younger brother. 

“ _ Lance.  _ A long-term relationship? Your thoughts?” His father’s words reminded him that he hadn’t quite got to step twenty-eight: dealing with the family. It wasn’t exactly an easy topic, nor was it the best idea to suddenly come clean with an ‘ _ I am, in fact, in a long term relationship, and they’re One-day! Surprise! I’m not a flirt or a player, because sike, it was the same person the whole time!” _

His parents weren’t homophobic and simply wanted their children to be happy, Lance knew that, but he didn’t know how they’d handle this kind of thing. It wasn’t as if anyone else had experienced the same thing.

“Long term relationship, huh… Yeah, maybe.”

 

\--

 

Lance was alone.

Veronica’s grandchildren had paid him a visit the other day, something they’d done at least once a week since Veronica and Acxa had passed. And if Lance was honest, he believed he’d be going soon too. He’d heard the same thing all too many times during the last fifteen years or so of his life;  _ how pitiful, one of his friends, Hunk, gone nine years back at the age of 84, the other, Pidge, stopped calling after she moved away years before, when they were young. No lover, no children, family either gone too or too far away or too busy to visit.  _

 

One-day had stopped calling two years ago. 

They’d made sure to keep up with technology, to ensure that they could still talk.

Now, talking never happened. Neither did the phone ringing with the ringtone Lance had chosen  _ specifically for unknown numbers _ , and neither did the soft words of “I love you” and “I miss you.”. The house was quiet.

 

And Lance was alone.

So, so very alone.

  
_ It was a sad way to die,  _ a member of the funeral party had said,  _ but in the end,  _ they supposed,  _ it was his own fault, his own choices, that had lead to such a pitiful end.” _


	2. 2: Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Well, that was a wild ride."

2: Aftermath

 

“Well, that was a wild ride.”

“Why did I have to die first?”

“Guys!” Lance whined to his two friends, “You’re missing the point!”

“And, what exactly,  _ was  _ the point of that story?” Hunk raised an eyebrow at his enthusiastic friend. He regretted his decision to ask as Lance straightened up proudly, ready to speak. Pidge nudged him, whispering a “Look what you’ve done!”.

“You see, my dear friends, I’ve done some research and discovered that over 30 years ago, the One-day syndrome did actually exist!”

“Or, it was just some dumb joke that people played.” Pidge mumbled, adding that she “should have just gone to that stupid maths test.”

“Yeah, it does seem a bit ridiculous, Lance, especially since you claim you remember all of these from a previous life. Miss me with all this voodoo stuff.” Hunk continued on Pidge’s point, and upon seeing Lance’s disdain, sighed, and said, “I’m not one to believe in Reincarnation or whatever, and you’re 17, Lance you have a life to live. You shouldn’t dwell on what may or may not have even happened.” The pair stood up, bidding their goodbyes. Once their backs had disappeared from view, Lance proceeded to throw a small tantrum. 

 

“Sir, please refrain from breaking one of our tables, we’re a small cafe with a small budget.” This was Shiro, who Lance realised was  _ definitely as hot as his voice was.  _ If Lance wasn’t so hung up on One-day, maybe he would have thirsted over Shiro instead.

“Yeah… Sorry, dude.”

“No problem.”

 

It was unusual. Like Hunk, Lance had never really believed in having multiple lives, or soulmates, or anything equally unrealistic. But here he was, watching as Nyma sashayed into the cafe to order a coffee with more milk than actual coffee, not knowing Lance even existed. Here he sat, in this newly-built cafe, reminiscing over the fact that this life he’d ended up not only with Veronica as a sister, but also Marco and Luis and Rachel, and nieces and nephews, a much bigger family than previously.  _ God, Lance felt old.  _ In a way he supposed he was. 

 

His life seemed so similar to his old one; Hunk had approached him and introduced him to Pidge, who still kept that odd nickname of hers. They’d gone to the same school, and Lance still got the same (bad) grades. However, there was one thing that Lance was determined to change.

 

_ Lance Mcclain was not going to die alone. _

 

Nobody really wanted that, really. But Lance’s possibly fabricated memories fuelled him with a determination to find One-day and maybe  _ actually marry them this time round.  _

 

“Oh! Lance! I thought you might be here.” Allura called from across the cafe. This was one thing that had changed. The first time he met Allura, he wasn’t confessing to her. They’d become friends this time round, although Lance supposed his was technically their first time getting to know one another. After sliding into the seat, she began to converse.

“Hunk informed me that you had an intriguing story to tell. Would you please enlighten me?”

If he wasn’t looking for One-day, maybe he would have been thirsting for Allura too. 

“Yeah, Pidge said it was ‘a wild ride.’...”

“A ride? But we won’t be moving whilst you tell the story!”

“I think she meant emotionally.”

“Emotions are not tangible… And I don’t believe that I have a ride inside my brain… Can rides even be wild? Like animals?”

Lance shrugged.

“Slang is weird like that.”

Allura nodded politely.

“Indeed, I find myself confused. But alas! I am going on a tangent. Please tell me your story, Lance.”

 

Allura was certainly a much more avid audience than Hunk or Pidge, her eyes wide and almost sparkling as Lance recounted what he’d told his other friends.

 

“So, you believe that this ‘One-day’ person exists? Are you what people call ‘Soulmates’? How romantic!” Allura gushed, caught up in the concept of past lovers. For some reason, she began quoting Romeo and Juliet rather loudly. 

 

“Can you two please and kindly shut the fuck up and order something before we kick you out?” It seemed as if Allura’s one-woman play had, shockingly, attracted unwanted attention. The speaker turned out to be the cashier, who lay slouched across the counter, looking thoroughly annoyed. His name-tag either read ‘Karen’ or ‘Keith’. Lance assumed it was the latter.

The former, Allura, politely apologised and picked up a menu, commenting that she believed that “The cashier’s rude nature is surely horrible customer service.” Lance wasn’t listening. He was certain that one, cashiers weren’t meant to sprawl themselves across the counter like that and two, weren’t meant to  _ look gorgeous doing it.  _

And with that thought coming to Lance’s mind, their eyes met.

“What? You got something to say?” The cashier dragged a hand through his hair, which Lance was horrified to discover was  _ a stupid mullet,  _ still glaring.

“Spit it out.”

 

_ And then, it clicked. _

 

Practically shooting from his seat and sending the chair flying into the table behind, Lance exclaimed, 

“It’s you! You’re One-day!”

Chaos ensued. Customers were complaining about the noise and the Keith guy was mumbling “What is this fuckery?” and Allura had let out a soft, “Oh, it’s just like a romance movie!” and begun applauding Lance. Staff and customers alike were baffled and Mullet-man cashier simply shouted over the noise, “You! Lanky guy and his girlfriend! Out! Now.”

The pair were promptly escorted from the premises by a pair of equally baffled and terrified waiters, Allura still clutching a menu. Lance was grinning from ear to ear as he turned around and locked eyes with the cashier, winked, and said,

 

“It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”


End file.
